A Doctor Johnson’s House commission to mark the tercentenary of the birth of David Garrick, Star of the first magnitude

STAR Set in September 1747, as a wave of ‘Garrick Fever’ hits London for the opening of the Drury Lane Theatre under the actor’s management. With the reputation of theatre at an all-time low, Garrick sets out to make himself rich and his profession acceptable. With a Prologue to the new season written by Samuel Johnson, Garrick promises to throw new light on elocution and action, banish ranting and bombast and to restore simplicity and humour to the British Stage. He also casts his keen eye towards dramatic special effects. But his ‘spirits are uncomposed and every circumstance about him in a perfect dilemma’; it’s three hours before curtain-up and Peg Woffington is arguing the Epilogue and he’s quarrelled with Macklin, the Season’s opener. It’ll be alright on the night, won’t it?

In March 2017 our original drama The Muse was revived at Leighton House, Holland Park to mark the triumphant homecoming of Lord Leighton's masterpiece, Flaming June. With an original score by John Chambers and directed by Nick Barber, The Muse yet again sold out before we opened.

A major National Trust commission, first created for performance at William Morris’ Red House.

Atmospheric, ghostly and unspeakably sad, If I Can is a narrative poem, fusing the extant shards of poetry and prose of those Pre-Raphaelites that built and embellished Red House.

Covering themes of loss and longing in the 1860s, the production is presented through an innovative new form; an audio drama delivered by MP3 player. The audience ranges around this Arts and Crafts gem, free to roam at will, drink in hand.

The property was populated by Palimpsest actors, in character and in costume. You chose whom to follow as their lives spooled out before you; as if the very walls spoke and gave up their secrets.

A Palimpsest commission for Dr. Johnson's House. Set in 1756, through theatre, film and online material, Playing to the Crowd explores the combustible relationship between David Garrick, Charlotte Lennox and Dr Johnson, as Samuel prepares to edit his collected works of Shakespeare. Davy's fast-and -loose showman's style coupled with Charlotte's academic dislike of the Bard puts Johnson's rigorous intellectual approach to the test.

Palimpsest's world premiere of The Muse at Leighton House Museum in March 2015 sold out before we opened. Exploring the relationship between Lord Leighton and his model, muse and confidante, Dorothy Dene, The Muse fused theatre, film and online elements. The play began with a drinks soirée ranging through the glorious salons of Leighton's palace of art and culminated in the artist's studio where Dorothy posed nude in 1886.

Our first production, Hedda, was a new adaptation of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, told in one hour and fifteen minutes by a company of RSC / NT actors and award-winning director, Patrick Sandford. Hedda completed an extensive tour of beautiful London houses in Spring 2014, including Leighton House, Kenwood House and The Foundling Museum.